Acceptance
by Macdutton
Summary: Sometimes, nightmares are more than just dreams.


A/N: Macdutton does not own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

"Boy! Come over here," came the raspy voice of an old man.

"Why would I do that?" The blonde asked warily.

"Because you need to hear what I have to say you insolent brat," was the calm reply.

"And you are?" Naruto was already testy after two weeks escorting a fat merchant. Some old man who would probably try to rip him off over some fake medicine wasn't doing his mood any good.

"An old man who knows something you should learn now," was the cryptic answer. Naruto sighed. He was obviously going to have to play along, otherwise the old coot would probably trail him to try to sell whatever idiocy this was.

"Alright, but make it quick," the blonde groused.

"As short as ever, Kurama."

Naruto immediately went into a defensive stance, pulling out a kunai while he did so.

"How do you know that name?"

"I know many things, and the fact that you're a Jinchuuriki isn't that difficult to spot," was the disdainful reply. "Honestly, kids these days, no respect for the insights of age."

"You're not answering my question." Naruto growled out the sentence, very much on edge.

"No, I'm not."

A flash. The sound of metal impacting flesh. But no body hitting the ground. Naruto's kunai had been caught by a… tail. A snake tail.

"Eh?" He stood dumbfounded for a second. This was obviously not Orochimaru or Anko, so who else had control of snakes…

"So you can't even recognise a vessel when you meet one. Sad."

"You're…" Naruto croaked.

"A Jinchuuriki, yes. Vessel of the six-tailed snake. And I need to talk to you." The man removed his robe. In front of Naruto was a huge snake, with six tails, two acting as legs, two as arms and two wrapped around the snake's body. But it was the face that caught his attention. There was a yellow, reptilian eye on one side, but a brilliantly green human eye on the other.

'_What in the name of Kami?'_ Naruto thought to himself.

**"So he is alive. Slippery bastard, wondered what happened to him."** The Kyuubi mumbled in the back of Naruto's mind.

_'Kyuubi? What's going on?'_

**"Rokubi disappeared a couple of hundred years ago. Guess this is what happened to him. Energy feels the same at least."**

"So, what do you want?" The young Kitsune vessel asked warily.

"To warn you. Warn you about what you'll become. Tell me child, how are you treated by most people?" The enormous snake hanyo asked him.

"Well by my friends, but most of the villagers still hate me."

"As expected. Get used to it, they'll always hate you. Humans never change, never get over things. And it will only get worse." The creature sighed. "You will change as Kurama's yokai leaks into you. Fur, ears, tails. You will become a living reminder of the hell that people were put through.

"They will all begin to abandon you. Your ninja comrades, the few villagers who accept you. Your teammates. Friends. Even your closest loved ones. They will all leave. And you will be alone. Alone again, not a friend in the world. You will see it as you change. Maybe it will even happen faster than you know…"

Naruto felt strange, as though he were being stretched and squashed. As though hair was sprouting everywhere, his jaws torn as they became elongated and misshapen. In an instant, he realised what was happening, as flashes of his friends, the villagers and his family flashed before him, all turning their backs on him. He was becoming the Kyuubi. The thing they all feared and hated him for.

Slowly, he felt the weight of abandonment settle on him. He began to scream, beg for them to understand, it wasn't something he could control. But they never listened. Never.

He screamed again. And kept on screaming.

Then he was being roughly slapped awake.

It had been a nightmare. Just another nightmare.

The same nightmare.

Again.

And again.

The same nightmare that had plagued him for 2 years, ever since he met the strange old man in Kusa.

He rolled over and fell back into an uneasy rest, not yet noticing the tail that had torn though his clothing while he was asleep.

The newest sign that he could never be normal.

That he could never be accepted.


End file.
